Album name: You Look Faster When You Are Young Artist name: Hot Gossip Genre: Punk Rock? Indie? I don’t know. Released: March 2009 Label: Ghost Records ZME Rating: 3/10 Website: myspace.com/hotgossip I feel a bit guilty for doing this review. Mostly because it’s picking on a very easy target, and also because I listened to it in the same week I heard two genuinely brilliant new albums it couldn’t possibly hope to live up to…
Album: Of Fungi and Foe Artist : Les Claypool Genre: Experimental Rock (?) Release Date: March 17, 2009 Label: Prawn Song ZME Rating: 5/10 Website: www.lesclaypool.com Welcome one and all to my first article for ZMEmusic.com. My name Is Jon Collins, and I’ll be your humble Reviewer for the duration of the….. uh, review. I hope this turns into a regular thing for me, so any ‘helpful’ feedback you, dear reader, wish to plaster me with, I…
Album name: Fever Ray Artist name: Fever Ray Genre: Electronica Released: March 24 2009 Label: Mute ZME Rating: 7/10 Website: feverray.com I’ll admit that I was probably not the obvious choice to review this album. Not only is the world of electronic music a distant, confusing galaxy to my feeble, earth-bound, two-guitars-and-the-truth brain, but I’m also overcome by an unhealthy amount of uncontrollable hate when confronted by the vast array of commericial “chillout” electronica, all…
Album name: All I Ever Wanted Artist name: Kelly Clarkson Genre: Pop Rock Released: March 10, 2009 Label: Sony BMG ZME Rating: 8/10 Website: kellyclarkson.com Well to sum it up pretty well, I’d have to say that this album, just as her previous releases, is made of pop rock that doesn’t suck; quite the contrary. Kelly Clarkson manages to put her lovable self into her songs and face it, that’s why we listen to her….
Album name: Party Intellectuals Artist name: Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog Genre: Rock/Experimental Released: 24 June 2008 Label: Pi ZME Rating: 8/10 Website: marcribot.com Hello, yes? I know. I understand exactly why you bought the Kings of Leon’s last record. Honestly, I do – I bought it too, after all. And, yes, it’s a fine record, where the band finally jumped to the left-hand side of the pop/rock divide, which they’ve been aiming for since forever….
Recorded: September 1979 / Genre: Punk rock, post punk / ZME Rating: 7/10 Criminally underrated or obscenely overrated? Regardless of your answer, punk outfit The Slits left a remarkable legacy in their wake. Precisely what their legacy represents is up for discussion more now than ever as 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of their debut Cut. The Slits are, or rather were, a British punk band who came together at the climax of the UK…
Album name: Scream Artist name: Chris Cornell Genre: Rock/R’n’B Released: March 10 2009 Label: Interscope ZME Rating: 2/10 Website: chriscornell.com Let’s not beat around the bush here. What we have in Chris Cornell’s Scream is possibly the most misguided, counterintuitive, magnificently awful record Cornell, and producer Timbaland, will ever make. It’s suffers from both hideously outdated production – it sounds like what Cornell, in 1996, might have imagined r’n’b would sound like in 2009 -…
Artist name: U2 Album name: No Line on the Horizon Label: Interscope Genre: Rock Release date: 27 February, 2009 ZMErating: 9/10 Website: www.u2.com Now, if I were to describe my feelings towards No Line on the Horizon, before spinning it, I’d definitely disapprove of anticipation and call for skepticism. Few albums were given in the past years, that promised to become huge slumps, only to transcend to classic LP status. I almost was prepared to…
Album name: I Just Want To Feel That Way (EP) Artist name: Ryan Smith Genre: Pop/Rock Released: 2008 Label: n/a ZME Rating: 4/10 Website: ryansmithonline.com I seem to be falling into a pattern of reviewing every EP from every little-known artist that falls across my lap, looking up at me with lonely eyes, begging for some loving attention and a little recognition. Which is fine – I’d like to think that years from now, at…
Album name: The Ride Across Lake Constance (EP) Artist name: Evening Magazine Genre: Indie/Alternative Released: January 2009 Label: n/a ZME Rating: 7/10 Website: www.myspace.com/eveningmagazinemusic I’m sorry. I apologise in advance. I should be able to do better. I pride myself on being able to do better. And yet, here I am, standing on the precipice of my own self-destruction; doused in metaphorical gasoline, and about to strike the match. I never thought I’d stoop so…
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